Education For All
Enrollment Increase
Schools
Purpose-built Schools
It is a unique partnership of the private and public sector to provide quality education to the masses through previously failed government schools.
The partnership began in 1998 when the Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore offered CARE to adopt the failed government-run schools. The schools were in a terrible condition, but CARE accepted this huge challenge, despite its limited resources.
Ten failed government schools were adopted as a pilot project. CARE transformed these schools by providing trained staff and missing facilities including furniture, science laboratories, libraries, computer labs and additional classrooms, as well as clean drinking water.
The changes in academic infrastructure and teaching methodology have increased the enrolment rate in these schools by 500 percent.
Today, CARE is educating thousands of children in over 888 schools adopted from the government.
It has proven to be a highly cost effective and scalable model, utilising the existing infrastructure. The model can be replicated in as many schools across Pakistan as resources permit.
From building schools to training centres, our network covers a substantial area across cities and provinces. We aim to grow even more to help children prosper, with the right educational resources.
With our ambition to raise educational standards across the entire country, the CARE Foundation has expanded over the years. From building schools to training centres, our network covers a substantial area across cities and provinces. We aim to grow even more to help children prosper, with the right educational resources.
Alongside the adopted schools, with the support of donors across the globe, CARE currently runs 33 purpose-built schools.
Beacons of light, these schools are all co-educational and run from nursery to intermediate level. The teachers are rigorously trained and their performance monitored. The schools are equipped with educational facilities including computer labs, science labs, libraries, well ventilated and spacious classrooms, toilets and clean drinking water.
We’re upgrading schools across the country with the mission of providing all children with standardised education, a learning supportive eco-system, and a gateway to new opportunities.
With the help of our team and contributors, CARE Foundation has progressively developed new schools and/or adopted low performing schools to elevate their rank.
“Public schools have too many bottlenecks that hamper the progression of a school,” states the school manager, “Also, when they have a surplus of admissions, there’s a dearth of teachers. Apart from that, there is no check and balance in government schools. However at CARE’s adopted schools, we work according to outlined objectives and a joint mission; it’s an effortless system.”Since its inception in 1988, CARE has undertaken the challenging task of adopting existing government schools that not only require serious renovation vis-à-vis the infrastructure, but also a complete makeover in the overall school system; from the syllabus to teacher training. For almost three decades, the non-profit has adopted a strategy that expands and upgrades government schools, promotes access to higher, more creative learning opportunities (such as scholarships and language programs, to name a few), including the development of engaging curriculums and regular teacher trainings to instill effective pedagogy that encourages academic achievement. The gaps in the public school systems are filled in by CARE and in a short span of time, the schools undergoes a very tangible transformation. Since the beginning, CARE has sought to bridge the class divide between students enrolled in private quality institutions and students in public institutions, by creating a network of schools equal in standing to leading private schools.
The foundation’s commitment to education and success in expanding its network to remote and underprivileged areas has also helped raise awareness about the benefits of education. Parents who weren’t keen on enrolling their children in debilitated government schools are now eager to enroll children in CARE schools. In a majority of cases where CARE has adopted run-down governmental schools, enrollment rates have increased by over 300 percent.
In a country where approximately 22 million Pakistani children remain out of school, illiteracy stands as the greatest barrier to the country’s progress. Yet, amidst pressing challenges, CARE wholeheartedly takes public schools with marginalized children under its wing, in order to pave the way for better, more promising opportunities for the generations to come.